This morning in the middle of the crucial Tonga vs England game (Tonga all the way!!!) we had to leave for the airport to drop Aonghas off, as he's going down to Christchurch for the week to attend this video filming/editing course. He'd be staying with our cousins down there for the first and last day of the week. We got a phone call from their mum this morning though, who told us that Samantha, the eldest daughter had been involved in a car accident and had been in hospital! Thankfully she was OK.
We got to the airport, which was an uneventful ride except for finding out that Tonga lost! Noooo!!!! Anyway we went into the Air New Zealand domestic terminal where one of the check-in women showed Aonghas how to use some new fandangled automatic machine thingy to check-in. After that, it wasn't long before we had to farewell Aonghas at the departure gate.
As Aonghas was moving along with the queue, I was taking photos of people walking through the metal detectors and being checked by the airport security guards when one of the guys came up to me and told me
"Excuse me you're not allowed to take photos here"
So that put a temporary end to my photo taking! While we were outside checking the planes out from the car park, I was taking a few photos of the control tower when some man came up to us and asked if everything was OK. We just told him we were taking photos!
Aonghas got to Christchurch safely though so that's good!
Saturday 29 September 2007
Assignment Fever
I finally finished my health psychology assignment! I discovered the computer lab in the science faculty which was great!! Usually the Information Commons computers are all taken, and so I decided to do a bit of exploring and went into the computer labs in the Science Faculty, and to my surprise I found quite a few computers free! I went in there, got started on my health psychology assignment and ended up staying there right up till 9pm!
For the past few days I've been going back to that computer lab to work on my assignment, and yesterday I finally finished and handed it in! Usually I hand in my assignments right on the deadline, but this time I handed it in earlier and so I kept thinking that there was something I had left out so I wanted to try get my assignment out of the box but the hole was too small! So that was it. No turning back. Because I missed my medsci lecture in the morning I went to the afternoon lecture and..fell asleep..I did an hour study afterwards and then treated myself with fries for FRYday!! :D Oh and I also met my lab partner Sheena's boyfriend Jason today! That was pretty cool.
It has been a frustrating few days. All the suggested books with readings related to the behaviour modification programme had all been borrowed whenever I tried looking for them. Yesterday afternoon I went to the Philson (medical) library in Grafton to try find a couple NZ Medical Journals with articles that I needed for my essay that is due this Wednesday. Funnily enough the exact journals I needed were the only ones missing!
---
On Wednesday after coming back from Tamaki I hung out with Kevin for a little bit too. We went over to the Japanese shop to see if I could find a protective cover for my phone screen, but they didn't sell any. We then went to Wendy's for a bit of a feed and I decided to try something different and order the 'potato with sour cream and chives'. I didn't realise that it would be one big potato with actual sour cream and chives! You're probably trying to shout at me WHAT DID YOU EXPECT CALUM! Well I was thinking it was like potato chips or wedges! Anyway it didn't taste too bad and I was pretty full after that!
---
Here is a bit of a conversation I heard between two computer science students in the computer lab:
"I've got to go to this stupid tutorial. I hate tutorials. It's like the tutor tries to create conversation with us by telling us about her personal life and I'm like I DON'T F*(KN CARE I WANT TO GO HOME AND WORK ON CODING!!!"
"Oh yeah.."
"That's why I like lectures better..minimal social interaction..."
Funnily enough these two students had blonde hair, glasses....
---
I nearly dropped my drink bottle in the toilet again on Thursday! That is the second time I've either dropped or come close to dropping something in the toilet! The first time was on the day of my population health exam last semester when I dropped my notes in the bowl!
---
I was meant to go to a birthday party last night but instead I had to help my brother pack for Christchurch. Aonghas is flying out this morning so that he can attend a week-long video filming and editing course down there. What a lucky guy, getting to fly twice in one year! I haven't been on a plane in maybe 5+ years!
For the past few days I've been going back to that computer lab to work on my assignment, and yesterday I finally finished and handed it in! Usually I hand in my assignments right on the deadline, but this time I handed it in earlier and so I kept thinking that there was something I had left out so I wanted to try get my assignment out of the box but the hole was too small! So that was it. No turning back. Because I missed my medsci lecture in the morning I went to the afternoon lecture and..fell asleep..I did an hour study afterwards and then treated myself with fries for FRYday!! :D Oh and I also met my lab partner Sheena's boyfriend Jason today! That was pretty cool.
It has been a frustrating few days. All the suggested books with readings related to the behaviour modification programme had all been borrowed whenever I tried looking for them. Yesterday afternoon I went to the Philson (medical) library in Grafton to try find a couple NZ Medical Journals with articles that I needed for my essay that is due this Wednesday. Funnily enough the exact journals I needed were the only ones missing!
---
On Wednesday after coming back from Tamaki I hung out with Kevin for a little bit too. We went over to the Japanese shop to see if I could find a protective cover for my phone screen, but they didn't sell any. We then went to Wendy's for a bit of a feed and I decided to try something different and order the 'potato with sour cream and chives'. I didn't realise that it would be one big potato with actual sour cream and chives! You're probably trying to shout at me WHAT DID YOU EXPECT CALUM! Well I was thinking it was like potato chips or wedges! Anyway it didn't taste too bad and I was pretty full after that!
---
Here is a bit of a conversation I heard between two computer science students in the computer lab:
"I've got to go to this stupid tutorial. I hate tutorials. It's like the tutor tries to create conversation with us by telling us about her personal life and I'm like I DON'T F*(KN CARE I WANT TO GO HOME AND WORK ON CODING!!!"
"Oh yeah.."
"That's why I like lectures better..minimal social interaction..."
Funnily enough these two students had blonde hair, glasses....
---
I nearly dropped my drink bottle in the toilet again on Thursday! That is the second time I've either dropped or come close to dropping something in the toilet! The first time was on the day of my population health exam last semester when I dropped my notes in the bowl!
---
I was meant to go to a birthday party last night but instead I had to help my brother pack for Christchurch. Aonghas is flying out this morning so that he can attend a week-long video filming and editing course down there. What a lucky guy, getting to fly twice in one year! I haven't been on a plane in maybe 5+ years!
A Quiz from my Friend Andy
This is a little quiz my friend Andy sent me a while ago. I only just got around to partially translating it so if you can understand the questions and my answers don't make sense, then I'm sorry but my Chinese ain't that great!! Here goes anyway...
A、被点到名字的要在自己的空间里写下自己的答案，然后去掉一个你最不喜欢的问题再加上一个你的问题，仍然组成20个问题，传给其他8个人，列出其他8个需要回答问题的人的名字，通知对方：你被点名了。被点名者不得拒绝回答问题，完成游戏的人将会永远得到大家的祝福。
B、这8个人要在自己的空间里注明是从哪里接到的，并且再传给其他8个人，让游戏继续下去，不得回传。被点到名字的人将会得到大家的祝福，并且所有美好的愿望都会在不久的将来实现。
点我名的人(Name one person): Diane
1. 喜欢一个人，会不会说出来? (Do you like her, will you ask her out?)
We're...really good friends ;) But nah I wouldn't bother asking her out
2. 择偶标准？ (What are you looking for in a wife?)
Ummm....I guess someone who's younger and shorter than me so I can look after them haha nah but really someone who is truly in love with me and is easy and open to talk to. She'll share anything with you and doesn't mind having things being shared with her. She'd be caring and would be able to trust me. She wouldn't be ashamed of me and wouldn't mind showing her love haha that sounds crazy
3. 有勇气敢对自己犯过的错误承认吗? (I couldn't translate this question!!)
To be there for you, to be able to be yourself around to hang out and just have fun with, to care about you and not have any hidden agendas or ulterior motives (such as using you!) oh and to be able to see past your faults and just enjoy your company
5. 最近最郁闷的事？ (most recently worrying matter)
Probably deciding whether to continue studying health science and what to do with myself and my future!!!
6. 最喜欢的歌 (most favourite song)
I have too many, so because I can't single one out, I'll just name my favourite classical pieces..Pomp and Circumstance by Elgar (can't remember which number one of them with the big BOMBOMBOM) as well as Pastoral Symphony by Beethoven...
7. 最受不了自己的哪个缺点？ (what people don't like about you)
Not too sure but if they told me it would probably be either that I like gossip (not as much anymore!!!) or that I'm too boring...(I think)
8. 你觉得自己身上什么地方最吸引人? (most appealing body)
Sadly I don't think I have any...lol but if I really had to choose, I'd say my thumbnail. So smooth! :D
9. 最近最快乐的事情是什么？ (Most recent joyful memory)
Most recent would be KiwiAsian Club ball that was pretty fun but really maybe back at school prize-giving and just the last few days at school being with all my friends before some of them left for overseas, other universities, or turned on each other! Oh and also earlier this year when my friends organised a mini birthday outing for my 18th which I'll never forget - that was really cool of them! (Gwen, Chen, Alex, Zahir and Angie thanks you guys again!)
10. 你去过最好玩的地方是哪? (Most happiest place been to?)
I don't really know...anywhere where I've been happy? But the place I most want to go to is Hong Kong! Even had dreams of going back! It's been eleven years since I last went there now!
11. 说出点你名的人的3个优点(不可删除题) (3 merits of the person named above)
Has a good heart - she genuinely cares about people and animals, and if she doesn't she'll be honest! (She's honest too which is equally good!)
Always makes me feel better - whenever there's something troubling me she's somehow able to get it all out of me and after texting/chating/talking to her she's able to make me feel all better! She's always there for me despite how annoying I can be to her!
Has good morals - She knows right from wrong, even after worrying/wondering if she's OK and if she's done anything wrong, sure enough she hasn't! (or is just lying to me!!)
She's intelligent - got into vet school in Palmerston North!
OK that's probably way over three things...
12. 谁是这辈子对你影响最深的人(Who in your whole life is the deepest person that affects you the most)
I'm not good at deciding so I'll just name a few (but that doesn't mean to say those who I haven't named aren't important to me!)
My parents - they made me who I am and who I will be (Health Science....HA!) + my brothers - don't really need to say much about them
Yuk kit - I haven't really talked to him much since he left for Hong Kong and only really hung out with him for a year or two but his philosophical ramblings and his persistence in trying to open me up and crack my shell really worked. Thanks to him I became more open about my personal life, loosened up a bit more and tried to enjoy life a bit more
Hyun and Joon - My friends for just a bit over half a decade, they've always been there for me and kept me from being lonely
I would keep going on about Chen, Hussein, Shen (because these guys are really important to me too!), so on and so on and so on....but I might end up with a really long list and I'm sure they already know it all. I'll put something up before I go up for surgery just in case...the worst happens and I'm accidentally decapitated!
13. 最想珍惜的人/事是什么？ (what you most want to do)
I want to make my mark on this world or in other words leave a legacy behind when I leave this place, or else I would have lived and died for nothing. Up till university we live to learn, but once we're in the workforce what more do we have to aim for? That's what I'm trying to figure out before I leave university so I have some sort of purpose and goal to achieve in life!
14. 未来2年内想做的事? (In 2 years time what do you want to do?)
Either just about to complete my degree (if I'm doing health science alone) or continuing my degree if I do a conjoint. As long as I'm not doing first year again after changing my degree three times!
15. 梦想中的自己会有怎样的未来？ (What is your future dream?)
I've had a few, either a journalist, politician, a really rich business owner (haha I'm dreaming), orchestra conductor (????) OK I'm still deciding!
16. 你现在幸福吗？(Are you now happy?)
Yeah I guess you could say I'm content at the moment, trying to make most of now (thanks Vodafone!)
17. 觉得最开心或最感动的那一刻是什么时候？ (Most happiest thought or moment)
To know that I'm loved or that I mean something to someone lol (soppy I know!)
18. 你现在最想拥有什么？ (What do you most want to have?)
Probably stability in life hahaha
19. 生活绝望的时候，你会选择怎么自我安慰？ (During life's despairs, how would you console yourself?)
Sounds stupid but I tell myself that I'm being stupid and that good times will come soon and I've just got to try look for a positive!
20. 假如你觉的老板或者同事很难沟通，你会想什么办法来解决？ (If you find it difficult to communicate with a boss or colleague, how would you solve the problem?)
I would probably try to say the right things for a while just to see what they're like and work out how they think then try get to know them better until I feel confident enough to discuss things with them (does that even make any sense?)
删掉: 13. 最想珍惜的人/事是什么？(I couldn't translate this!!)
点名了： Don't think too many of my friends can read or type Chinese or they don't have blogs!
那么多人 写blog的却少的可怜
Wednesday 26 September 2007
And There it Is!
So it started off with me, Lyres and Henry sitting together in the health psychology lecture in the early early morning. I got all excited when the lecturer announced we would be watching a video! :D When we finally came to it though, I fell asleep!!!
After the lecture Lyres left and Henry and I were about to leave the lecture theatre when Henry spotted someone's bag left by a seat in our row, so he handed it in to the lecturer. On his way back, he spotted a key lying on the aisle floor, so he handed it in to the lecturer as well.
We were walking up the road back to the library lecture theatres when I was joking about finding money one the ground when guess what just happened to be lying right in front of me? Money! OK not that much but what made it unique was it was an American quarter dollar coin!
Our health psychology tutorial in Grafton later that day was a bit different too. We had to get into groups and come up with a poster on some health issue. Steven and I were together with these two other girls who seemed very unresponsive. It took us fifteen minutes to decide on a health issue to do, and that was only when I started asking about safe sex! Our poster ended up being filled with a lot of random stuff like two safes having sex (get it? safe sex???), a catchy slogan
"If you're the one he loves, he'll wear a glove"
scary messages on the consequences of unprotected sex, and our mascot the condom. I got to draw that!! They had already sorta given my slogan the cold shoulder:
"Protection is handy for when you are randy"
After the lecture Lyres left and Henry and I were about to leave the lecture theatre when Henry spotted someone's bag left by a seat in our row, so he handed it in to the lecturer. On his way back, he spotted a key lying on the aisle floor, so he handed it in to the lecturer as well.
We were walking up the road back to the library lecture theatres when I was joking about finding money one the ground when guess what just happened to be lying right in front of me? Money! OK not that much but what made it unique was it was an American quarter dollar coin!
Our health psychology tutorial in Grafton later that day was a bit different too. We had to get into groups and come up with a poster on some health issue. Steven and I were together with these two other girls who seemed very unresponsive. It took us fifteen minutes to decide on a health issue to do, and that was only when I started asking about safe sex! Our poster ended up being filled with a lot of random stuff like two safes having sex (get it? safe sex???), a catchy slogan
"If you're the one he loves, he'll wear a glove"
scary messages on the consequences of unprotected sex, and our mascot the condom. I got to draw that!! They had already sorta given my slogan the cold shoulder:
"Protection is handy for when you are randy"
Monday 24 September 2007
Holidays!!! For Some...
Saturday was the last recorder class I had to teach for term three as it's now school holidays for those lucky school kids! I can't exactly complain since us uni students had our holidays a couple weeks ago already, but I wouldn't mind having a couple more!
Anyway just to lighten the mood for the last class of the term, I decided to play a few games with each of my classes..once I had actually thought of one! I ended up making one on the spot - trying to name ten musical notes in the fastest time. My first class of third year students got a little crazy (must be pre-holiday excitement!) and discovered I was ticklish while I was writing on the whiteboard. They also made use of the whiteboard marker when I handed it to them to write some answers on the whiteboard by drawing on my shorts!
The times taken for my students to name ten musical notes ranged from 40s to 1 minute. That was until we got to the advanced class - 11s! Now that's more like it!
This weekend I've been...not sure how to say it...in a continuous state of thought? OK that made absolutely no sense. Well yesterday morning at the church service there were four blind Taiwanese guys who sang as a quartet (sort of like a barbershop quartet) and were amazing! One would click his fingers and then all four of them would raise their microphones, and then he would sniff and they would start singing in perfect harmony! One of the men gave the sermon which did make me realise just how many people out there are worse off than us, and yet they're able to overcome their difficulties and make the most of their lives! That really inspired me.
Sunday school afterwards was cool, in that we got to have our class at a different location because our usual class stunk! Jennifer and her mum asked me about UMAT, and just the thought (and remembering!) made my day which was really cool. You only mention something once and she seems to remember, and she's always so positive! That also made my day.
One of my friends also hadn't texted me all day and all of last night (yeah I know tragic....) and I was starting to get worried. You end up getting all these thoughts that something not too great has happened, but fortunately it was far from it, and that she was all good! So all's good!
And as for a story about my encounter with these girls and one of their mums which caused them to turn abusive towards me (except for one who is just born evil), I shall post that up sometime soon...
Anyway just to lighten the mood for the last class of the term, I decided to play a few games with each of my classes..once I had actually thought of one! I ended up making one on the spot - trying to name ten musical notes in the fastest time. My first class of third year students got a little crazy (must be pre-holiday excitement!) and discovered I was ticklish while I was writing on the whiteboard. They also made use of the whiteboard marker when I handed it to them to write some answers on the whiteboard by drawing on my shorts!
The times taken for my students to name ten musical notes ranged from 40s to 1 minute. That was until we got to the advanced class - 11s! Now that's more like it!
This weekend I've been...not sure how to say it...in a continuous state of thought? OK that made absolutely no sense. Well yesterday morning at the church service there were four blind Taiwanese guys who sang as a quartet (sort of like a barbershop quartet) and were amazing! One would click his fingers and then all four of them would raise their microphones, and then he would sniff and they would start singing in perfect harmony! One of the men gave the sermon which did make me realise just how many people out there are worse off than us, and yet they're able to overcome their difficulties and make the most of their lives! That really inspired me.
Sunday school afterwards was cool, in that we got to have our class at a different location because our usual class stunk! Jennifer and her mum asked me about UMAT, and just the thought (and remembering!) made my day which was really cool. You only mention something once and she seems to remember, and she's always so positive! That also made my day.
One of my friends also hadn't texted me all day and all of last night (yeah I know tragic....) and I was starting to get worried. You end up getting all these thoughts that something not too great has happened, but fortunately it was far from it, and that she was all good! So all's good!
And as for a story about my encounter with these girls and one of their mums which caused them to turn abusive towards me (except for one who is just born evil), I shall post that up sometime soon...
Sunday 23 September 2007
Making Headlines Out West - A Thief steals Car Wheels!!!!!
A quick visit to the Massey library turned horribly wrong for Vanessa Blackie when she returned to her car to find its two back wheels gone.
The 36-year-old solo mum couldn't believe her eyes when she spotted the car sitting on a jack.
"I just looked at it and thought: Why would anyone do that?" the mother of two says.
"We were picking up books at the library.
"The wheels were fairly new. They took the metal rims and everything."
The thief struck some-time between 9.30am and 10am on Wednesday while Vanessa's car was parked outside the building, which is shared by the YMCA leisure centre.
Vanessa had to borrow two space saver wheels from a tyre dealer to drive to Work and Income and get the money she needed to pay for new ones.
"It took up my whole day," she says.
Vanessa, who works as a note taker for disabled students at Massey University, says it was an extra expense that she did not need.
The car was insured but she had to pay a $320 excess to replace the wheels.
She is relieved the offender didn't take the front ones as well.
"The guy at the tyre shop said he didn't know why the thief only took two," she says.
"My children are seven and 13 and both have their birthdays coming up," the Royal Heights resident says.
"It's sad that their birthday money goes towards covering the loss."
Vanessa's light blue Mitsubishi Galant has an alarm and a club lock on the steering wheel but neither deterred the culprit.
Fortunately help was close at hand.
"The lady at the YMCA was really helpful with bringing us cups of tea and with calling the police," she says.
"Work and Income was sympathetic too."
Vanessa, who is studying business at Massey, has a piece of evidence she hopes might help apprehend the thief.
"I have their jack and I'm going to give it to the police," she says.
Vanessa hopes someone saw the thief and is asking witnesses to come forward.
"I'm still quite shocked by it all. I felt like my life was turned upside down."Friday 21 September 2007
Faster!
Since the last post I've dissected a sheep's heart, gotten my UMAT test result back and competed in an ice-cream eating competition...
It's only the second week of uni and already I'm starting to get tired and fall asleep during lectures! I seriously can't wait till the holidays. I've already started looking at what I want to do next year, and am now even looking at possible part-time jobs for the holidays (can anyone tell me if it's OK for guys to work at Farmers?), so I have to keep telling myself not to get too far ahead of myself! I've still got the exams to think about!
Yesterday for our medsci lab we dissected the hearts of sheep. Now while it is sad for the sheep, it was really fascinating being able to actually see the various bits of a heart in real life, as we've studied diagrams and read all about all of the functions of the different parts of the heart. We were all being very careful when dissecting the heart yesterday for fear of contracting leptospirosis, so we made sure we had our gloves on tightly and that we didn't pierce them with our scissors! I was being stupid with the heart and got a bit of blood on my safety goggles though!
Leptospirosis - an infectious disease carried mainly by cattle but sometimes by sheep, dogs and wild rats. It is caused by a spirochete bacterium. Humans can become infected through broken skin or via mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes. New Zealand strains of leptospirosis produce flu-like symptoms...
Come to think of it, I did have a bit of a runny nose later that night after the lab session! But then again (well I'm hoping) it was probably because it was windy and my jumper wasn't thick enough!
Yesterday our UMAT (Undergraduate Medical and Health Sciences Admission Test) results back. It took me quite a while trying to interpret the results and figure out what they meant! I suppose my results weren't too bad, or at least not as bad as I expected, but that doesn't matter anymore since I'm not going for medicine. What a waste of money!!
Today after having one lecture, I hung out at uni waiting for the Dessert Club's ice-cream eating competition! There were two challenges - either to eat 1L of ice-cream the fastest, or 2L of ice-cream. I met up with Hamish and we signed up. Originally I was thinking of putting my name down for 2L because I could just get my ice-cream, start eating, and then when someone won I could take it away with me and keep eating it. After seeing just how much 1L was though, I decided against that and Hamish and I both signed up for the 1L competition. I tried getting a few of my friends to enter but none of them wanted to! It was free too!
After watching a few rounds of people having a go at eating their ice-cream, it was Hamish and my turn to step up to the table and take on the ice-cream. Hamish got chocolate and I got strawberry. When we were told to start I didn't realise just how solid the ice-cream was! Realising I didn't have much chance of threatening the record, I decided to take my time, and everyone else seemed to be too, unlike the people in the other rounds who were using their hands and getting all messy!
Once one guy finished (way off the record though!) and that's when I decided I'd try pick up the pace and see if I could at least come second. My hands went into the ice-cream and I started mashing it around and massaging it, with people calling out to me
"What are you doing?!!!"
I told them I was trying to melt the ice-cream so I could drink it! OK not such a great idea! My hands started freezing and going numb! One of the competition officials eventually told us to clear up so I finished my ice-cream on the sidelines before rushing to the toilet to put my hands under hot water! For the rest of the day I was pretty much full!
I spent the afternoon watching the free lunchtime music concert at the music school. Amalia Hall, this really good violinist (who, may I say proudly, beat me to a music scholarship back when we were still in intermediate school hahaha) was performing, but before her there were these other soloists. This guy named Ludwig was performing for the second week in a row yet another Beethoven piece! I wonder if it's anything more than a coincidence that Ludwig likes playing Ludwig's music... I have to admit I was trying not to nod off during the concert (the musicians were good! I must've just been slightly tired!) and get told off by the older guy sitting next to me, but fortunately I managed to keep my eyes open!
It's only the second week of uni and already I'm starting to get tired and fall asleep during lectures! I seriously can't wait till the holidays. I've already started looking at what I want to do next year, and am now even looking at possible part-time jobs for the holidays (can anyone tell me if it's OK for guys to work at Farmers?), so I have to keep telling myself not to get too far ahead of myself! I've still got the exams to think about!
Yesterday for our medsci lab we dissected the hearts of sheep. Now while it is sad for the sheep, it was really fascinating being able to actually see the various bits of a heart in real life, as we've studied diagrams and read all about all of the functions of the different parts of the heart. We were all being very careful when dissecting the heart yesterday for fear of contracting leptospirosis, so we made sure we had our gloves on tightly and that we didn't pierce them with our scissors! I was being stupid with the heart and got a bit of blood on my safety goggles though!
Leptospirosis - an infectious disease carried mainly by cattle but sometimes by sheep, dogs and wild rats. It is caused by a spirochete bacterium. Humans can become infected through broken skin or via mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes. New Zealand strains of leptospirosis produce flu-like symptoms...
Come to think of it, I did have a bit of a runny nose later that night after the lab session! But then again (well I'm hoping) it was probably because it was windy and my jumper wasn't thick enough!
Yesterday our UMAT (Undergraduate Medical and Health Sciences Admission Test) results back. It took me quite a while trying to interpret the results and figure out what they meant! I suppose my results weren't too bad, or at least not as bad as I expected, but that doesn't matter anymore since I'm not going for medicine. What a waste of money!!
Today after having one lecture, I hung out at uni waiting for the Dessert Club's ice-cream eating competition! There were two challenges - either to eat 1L of ice-cream the fastest, or 2L of ice-cream. I met up with Hamish and we signed up. Originally I was thinking of putting my name down for 2L because I could just get my ice-cream, start eating, and then when someone won I could take it away with me and keep eating it. After seeing just how much 1L was though, I decided against that and Hamish and I both signed up for the 1L competition. I tried getting a few of my friends to enter but none of them wanted to! It was free too!
After watching a few rounds of people having a go at eating their ice-cream, it was Hamish and my turn to step up to the table and take on the ice-cream. Hamish got chocolate and I got strawberry. When we were told to start I didn't realise just how solid the ice-cream was! Realising I didn't have much chance of threatening the record, I decided to take my time, and everyone else seemed to be too, unlike the people in the other rounds who were using their hands and getting all messy!
Once one guy finished (way off the record though!) and that's when I decided I'd try pick up the pace and see if I could at least come second. My hands went into the ice-cream and I started mashing it around and massaging it, with people calling out to me
"What are you doing?!!!"
I told them I was trying to melt the ice-cream so I could drink it! OK not such a great idea! My hands started freezing and going numb! One of the competition officials eventually told us to clear up so I finished my ice-cream on the sidelines before rushing to the toilet to put my hands under hot water! For the rest of the day I was pretty much full!
I spent the afternoon watching the free lunchtime music concert at the music school. Amalia Hall, this really good violinist (who, may I say proudly, beat me to a music scholarship back when we were still in intermediate school hahaha) was performing, but before her there were these other soloists. This guy named Ludwig was performing for the second week in a row yet another Beethoven piece! I wonder if it's anything more than a coincidence that Ludwig likes playing Ludwig's music... I have to admit I was trying not to nod off during the concert (the musicians were good! I must've just been slightly tired!) and get told off by the older guy sitting next to me, but fortunately I managed to keep my eyes open!
Wednesday 19 September 2007
A Slight Delay
It looks like I won't be getting my surgery in a couple months after all. Originally I was set to go under the knife on the 12th of November, but I went to the see the orthodontist yesterday and after looking at my teeth they decided they'd keep me wearing braces for a bit longer to try straighten my teeth as much as possible to make them perfect before I undergo surgery. There were still gaps in the places where I had teeth removed earlier. This meant they were going to tighten my braces even more! Now I'm sitting here typing this with toothache! Maybe ice-cream will help a little bit..
Earlier in the day we had been learning about amnesia in health psychology in our tutorial. We watched this video about some guy who had some damage to the hippocampus in his brain (the part which deals with memory) who could only remember for a few minutes and then he would completely forget about everything that had just happened. He wrote diary entries which looked something like
4:30pm 15 July 1980 "I'm Alive!!!!"
4:35pm 15 July 1980 "I'm Alive!!!"
There was a whole diary filled with similar entries like that and when his wife (he remembered his wife...he must be able to retain memories prior to contracting the virus that damaged his hippocampus) confronted him on who wrote the previous entries he would get angry and claim it definitely wasn't him! In other words this guy could only live during a certain moment and would relive it over and over again for the rest of his life, without being able to move forward or recall much from the past. That was so sad!
While I was eating lunch at Albert Park I also caught up with this guy Mark who I met at the KiwiAsian Club ball, which was a bit of a surprise as I didn't think I'd recognise him, and I didn't think I'd recognise him again! This Saturday night the club is holding some gameshow night so I've been trying to decide whether I should go or not!
This Friday night is the Health Science ball at...the Tamaki Campus! It's free though with free food and free drink, talk about cheap! I don't actually know if anyone knows about this ball or if anyone will be going though!
Stuck!
I got on the bus on Monday, put in my bus pass into the machine and then it came up as ERROR! The lady told me I hadn't renewed my bus pass even though I walked all the way to the dairy on Saturday and paid $170 to get it renewed! I ended up having to pay nearly $15 worth of bus passes that day!
Anyway the weather was so hot on Monday! Patrick and I were sweatily dozing off during economics as the air conditioner didn't seem to be on. There were actually quite a few people with their heads down, but the lecturer with her woolly jumper on kept on going without even noticing! I later fell asleep again in my population health lecture but that wasn't so much due to the heat..just out of boredom...
In the morning after I had to walk all the way to Grafton to return my book and then all the way back into the city, I decided to check out some prospectuses on various other degrees that I could possibly switch to at the end of this year. I discovered that I couldn't do health psychology with a Health Science degree alone! That's when I totally lost hope in the degree (not the first time either!)
Later that night though was the Bachelor of Health Science careers evening where some employers would tell us about possible job opportunities for graduates of this degree. Because my lecture at Tamaki finished at about 3.30pm and the evening started at 6.30pm, it meant I had about three hours to kill! I spent the first couple of hours wasting time on the internet before doing a bit of study. I then decided to explore the Tamaki campus to see if there were any real signs of life nearby! I started walking along down this road, but it seemed to lead to nowhere except panel-beating workshops and other industrial buildings. I decided to turn back and went back into the campus and walked to the other side of it. I crossed the car park before being stopped by a river. I was about to give up hope that there were any other shops around the place (the only REALLY EXPENSIVE shop to buy food on the campus was closed!) before I spotted in the distance the golden arches! McDonald's!!! And not too far away...KFC! It was too far to get there though and I'd have to find a way to cross the river, so I just decided to head to the careers evening.
There was heaps of food there so I tried to take advantage of that before going into the function. There were a few speakers from the Ministry of Health, the District Health Board and a couple of private companies. It did seem that there are a few job opportunities after all, even though it's not so clear cut! One of the most interesting comments made though was that if we want to get a job with the World Health Organisation, we'd have to get our Masters of Health and be able to speak English as well as either French or Spanish, so maybe I should start learning..
There was a bit of a happy ending to the bus pass saga. The dairy owners gave my parents a temporary pass to pass on to me till I could take my current bus pass back to the dairy shop to get it fixed. What nice people!
Anyway the weather was so hot on Monday! Patrick and I were sweatily dozing off during economics as the air conditioner didn't seem to be on. There were actually quite a few people with their heads down, but the lecturer with her woolly jumper on kept on going without even noticing! I later fell asleep again in my population health lecture but that wasn't so much due to the heat..just out of boredom...
In the morning after I had to walk all the way to Grafton to return my book and then all the way back into the city, I decided to check out some prospectuses on various other degrees that I could possibly switch to at the end of this year. I discovered that I couldn't do health psychology with a Health Science degree alone! That's when I totally lost hope in the degree (not the first time either!)
Later that night though was the Bachelor of Health Science careers evening where some employers would tell us about possible job opportunities for graduates of this degree. Because my lecture at Tamaki finished at about 3.30pm and the evening started at 6.30pm, it meant I had about three hours to kill! I spent the first couple of hours wasting time on the internet before doing a bit of study. I then decided to explore the Tamaki campus to see if there were any real signs of life nearby! I started walking along down this road, but it seemed to lead to nowhere except panel-beating workshops and other industrial buildings. I decided to turn back and went back into the campus and walked to the other side of it. I crossed the car park before being stopped by a river. I was about to give up hope that there were any other shops around the place (the only REALLY EXPENSIVE shop to buy food on the campus was closed!) before I spotted in the distance the golden arches! McDonald's!!! And not too far away...KFC! It was too far to get there though and I'd have to find a way to cross the river, so I just decided to head to the careers evening.
There was heaps of food there so I tried to take advantage of that before going into the function. There were a few speakers from the Ministry of Health, the District Health Board and a couple of private companies. It did seem that there are a few job opportunities after all, even though it's not so clear cut! One of the most interesting comments made though was that if we want to get a job with the World Health Organisation, we'd have to get our Masters of Health and be able to speak English as well as either French or Spanish, so maybe I should start learning..
There was a bit of a happy ending to the bus pass saga. The dairy owners gave my parents a temporary pass to pass on to me till I could take my current bus pass back to the dairy shop to get it fixed. What nice people!
Sunday 16 September 2007
Hear Those Bells Ringing!
So with exams only a month away, that will give me four months holiday once they're completed! After church today my mum, Hamish and I went to West City to drop Aonghas off at work and have a bit of a feed before going to the library to study. It got me realising that I've got to start thinking about finding another part-time job for the holidays! Surprisingly there were quite a few posters on shop windows looking for part-time staff, mainly jewellery shops and a men's suit shop.
Even though I don't really support the bill that Sue Bradford (yes that woman again!) managed to get passed in parliament which went some way to abolishing youth rates, I guess there's a bit of a positive for me. Now I'll be on a level playing field with all those young little kids who also don't have much previous work experience! (I really don't think music teaching counts for much!) Hopefully they'll go for the slightly more mature 18-year-old ;) ;)
We were on our way out of West City when the sound of High School Musical music was blasting from the floor below, so we went over to have a look over by the rails to see what was going on. It turned out to be one of those kiddie dance groups performing the moves (and singing I think) to 'We're All in This Together' on stage in front of a crowd of kids and pre-teens.
I turned around and guess who I saw standing right beside me trying to have a look at what was going on with her mum and sister? Angie! She didn't actually see me so I walked up to her from behind and tried humming or making some weird sound in her ear but she still didn't hear me! Then her mum had to wave at me and give it away!
Even though I don't really support the bill that Sue Bradford (yes that woman again!) managed to get passed in parliament which went some way to abolishing youth rates, I guess there's a bit of a positive for me. Now I'll be on a level playing field with all those young little kids who also don't have much previous work experience! (I really don't think music teaching counts for much!) Hopefully they'll go for the slightly more mature 18-year-old ;) ;)
We were on our way out of West City when the sound of High School Musical music was blasting from the floor below, so we went over to have a look over by the rails to see what was going on. It turned out to be one of those kiddie dance groups performing the moves (and singing I think) to 'We're All in This Together' on stage in front of a crowd of kids and pre-teens.
I turned around and guess who I saw standing right beside me trying to have a look at what was going on with her mum and sister? Angie! She didn't actually see me so I walked up to her from behind and tried humming or making some weird sound in her ear but she still didn't hear me! Then her mum had to wave at me and give it away!
Bite-Sized Bits
RIP Colin McRae! Although I never really was into the rally car racing, the most vivid Colin McRae-related memory I had was of me playing his rally car racing game on my old neighbour's computer. Rally to me was Possum Bourne and Colin McRae, the only two rally car drivers I had really heard of..oh and Marcus someone...
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Go Portugal for scoring a try against the All Blacks! While hoping the All Blacks would make it past 100 (and even 200...pushing my luck a bit there...) deep down inside I was secretly cheering on Portugal to give the All Blacks a run for their money! It must be that whole underdog thing! Now go Japan, Namibia, Georgia, United States (the United States? Underdogs for a change? how odd!!) and Portugal!!!!! You can do it!!! But the All Blacks for the grand final win against anyone!
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The Warriors...disappointing...enough said
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How much bigger can this whole McCann thing get? They have four media advisers and are bankrolling an £80,000 advertising campaign involving newspaper, television and billboard ads. They're either very dedicated and loving parents or are going to great depths to cover something up. Personally I think something sounds fishy about this whole thing, but we'll just have to see..
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Go Portugal for scoring a try against the All Blacks! While hoping the All Blacks would make it past 100 (and even 200...pushing my luck a bit there...) deep down inside I was secretly cheering on Portugal to give the All Blacks a run for their money! It must be that whole underdog thing! Now go Japan, Namibia, Georgia, United States (the United States? Underdogs for a change? how odd!!) and Portugal!!!!! You can do it!!! But the All Blacks for the grand final win against anyone!
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The Warriors...disappointing...enough said
---
How much bigger can this whole McCann thing get? They have four media advisers and are bankrolling an £80,000 advertising campaign involving newspaper, television and billboard ads. They're either very dedicated and loving parents or are going to great depths to cover something up. Personally I think something sounds fishy about this whole thing, but we'll just have to see..
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Exams Over For Now
Finally my mid-semester exams are over for...a month...On Wednesday I had one population health lecture over at Tamaki which was about the aging population. To see all those elderly pleading for bigger pensions, and those who were living in pain and poverty was really depressing! I really don't want to get old now!!!! (Actually...when did I ever???)
I only had a few hours after that lecture to study for my economics test. It turned out to be pretty easy (or it was supposed to be!!!!) but I'm quite sure I stuffed it up as usual!
The next day I had two lectures in the morning before I went straight to the public library and started reading and reading and reading for my health psychology test!! Seven hours later, my health psychology test! I most likely stuffed that test up as well! The multi-choice questions weren't too bad but I think I wrote a lot of rubbish for the short answer questions!
On Friday I had one lecture in the morning, which I almost missed because I slept in and missed the bus! Fortunately my parents dropped me off in the city. After that lecture, I had a one hour study session with Andy before I was seriously bored for the first time in a while! I was checking out the Auckland University website on the computer when I came across a free lunchtime concert to be held at the Music School, with who else but my accordion teacher as one of the performers! I had been meaning to check out one of the free lunchtime performances for some time but kept missing them, so I was adamant I wasn't going to miss this one!
My accordion teacher played one of the pieces I had played a little while ago - The Third Movement of Bach's Italian Concerto, followed by this Chinese train song, in which the audience laughed at his bellow shakes (us accordionists always seem to be getting that whenever we do our bellow shakes!). The guys behind me really enjoyed it afterwards which is good, because the accordion needs a bit more promotion!
I only had a few hours after that lecture to study for my economics test. It turned out to be pretty easy (or it was supposed to be!!!!) but I'm quite sure I stuffed it up as usual!
That night my bus didn't even turn up and I had to wait for the next one an hour later which meant hanging around in the city till 9.30pm, so I decided I'd walk all the way down Queen St to the Britomart terminal to kill some time. I then decided to check out how much stuff cost at the Star Mart by the terminal. I was about to leave when the shop keeper called out to me! Initially I thought he was just saying hi and wanted to know if I needed any help and I called back to him
"Oh just having a look!"
He came from behind the counter and wanted to have a closer look at the drink bottle I was carrying! Fair enough. I suppose he thought I was shoplifting!
The next day I had two lectures in the morning before I went straight to the public library and started reading and reading and reading for my health psychology test!! Seven hours later, my health psychology test! I most likely stuffed that test up as well! The multi-choice questions weren't too bad but I think I wrote a lot of rubbish for the short answer questions!
On Friday I had one lecture in the morning, which I almost missed because I slept in and missed the bus! Fortunately my parents dropped me off in the city. After that lecture, I had a one hour study session with Andy before I was seriously bored for the first time in a while! I was checking out the Auckland University website on the computer when I came across a free lunchtime concert to be held at the Music School, with who else but my accordion teacher as one of the performers! I had been meaning to check out one of the free lunchtime performances for some time but kept missing them, so I was adamant I wasn't going to miss this one!
My accordion teacher played one of the pieces I had played a little while ago - The Third Movement of Bach's Italian Concerto, followed by this Chinese train song, in which the audience laughed at his bellow shakes (us accordionists always seem to be getting that whenever we do our bellow shakes!). The guys behind me really enjoyed it afterwards which is good, because the accordion needs a bit more promotion!
Wednesday 12 September 2007
Starbucks and Spaceships
This week is mid-semester test week for me, having four tests in four days straight after holidays, so I know how all you high school kids are feeling right now! On Monday I had my Population Health test. It was all multi-choice so it wasn't too....bad although I still had to guess a few questions. I only had one lecture in the morning and one in the afternoon so I had a little time to study before the test.
Yesterday I had my MEDSCI test at night. Because I had one Health Psychology lecture at 8am in the morning, it meant I had a huge nine hour gap in between my lecture and my test!! Originally I was going to go straight into study after my lecture and try do as much as I can before my test, but I decided I better top up my phone first, so I walked down to the nearest ATM. It didn't work, so I walked all the way to the end of Queen St to use the ATM inside the Downtown Shopping Centre.
Once I had bought my top-up, I was sitting outside Britomart topping up my phone when these two Starbucks girls came over and offered me a free sample of their green tea latte! I kindly accepted and they gave me a voucher for one free green tea latte. They went off and I drank it. Initially I thought it tasted a little funky, but by the time I finished it all it wasn't actually too bad!
After I had finished drinking it, I decided I better make my way back to the library to embark on some studying. While I was standing at the intersection waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, the Starbucks girls came over asking other people if they wanted to try a sample. One of the girls came over to me to ask if I'd like to try a sample before realising they had already given me one! I commented on how good it tasted, and lucky me they offered me another one because they were trying to get rid of them!
I managed to study about seven hours without a break and without falling asleep! I was racing against time right throughout the day to ensure I covered the whole topic, but even after seven years I still nearly ran out of time! I had half an hour to go and decided I better eat because I was HUUUUNNGRY! I managed to meet up with Alice and Lun Shen in the Info Commons before having to go off to my test in the Lower Lecture Theatre.
The test was...sorta OK. Once again it was all multi-choice. There were some questions I knew and some I didn't. I'll have to wait till I get my results to see if I was fully prepared or not.
I was waiting at the bus stop outside Sky City later that night, sitting in between this homeless guy and some Asian girl. After running all the way from uni to the bus stop, I realised the bus wouldn't be coming for another 15 minutes! Anyway I was sitting there, checking out the Asian girl..haha nah just joking I was staring at the other side of the road, when the homeless guy started talking to me:
"Did you hear about the low-flying spaceships this morning?"
Thinking he was talking about the NZ Airforce training thing involving low-flying that was mentioned in the NZ Herald, I just nodded and agreed. I asked him if he was talking about helicopters, but he was adament
"Nah nah bro they're spaceships! They're five miles long, hidden in the clouds. Straight up bro straight up!"
I asked him if they were there right at that time. He told me:
"Yeeah bro they're hiding in the clouds or else it would scare the f*#&k outta everyone!"
He would even walk out from under the shelter to look into the sky to check for spaceships. I wasn't sure if he was having me on or if he really believed what he was saying!
He went on about how there was one big spaceship and all these small crafts. I asked if the big craft was the mother ship but he replied
"Nah bro its the father ship! Representin' mankind! Straight up bro!!"
He went on about those beams that lift people into flying saucers which was starting to get freaky!
Fortunately the bus arrived just in time to pick me up before that guy did anything bad to me!
Yesterday I had my MEDSCI test at night. Because I had one Health Psychology lecture at 8am in the morning, it meant I had a huge nine hour gap in between my lecture and my test!! Originally I was going to go straight into study after my lecture and try do as much as I can before my test, but I decided I better top up my phone first, so I walked down to the nearest ATM. It didn't work, so I walked all the way to the end of Queen St to use the ATM inside the Downtown Shopping Centre.
Once I had bought my top-up, I was sitting outside Britomart topping up my phone when these two Starbucks girls came over and offered me a free sample of their green tea latte! I kindly accepted and they gave me a voucher for one free green tea latte. They went off and I drank it. Initially I thought it tasted a little funky, but by the time I finished it all it wasn't actually too bad!
After I had finished drinking it, I decided I better make my way back to the library to embark on some studying. While I was standing at the intersection waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, the Starbucks girls came over asking other people if they wanted to try a sample. One of the girls came over to me to ask if I'd like to try a sample before realising they had already given me one! I commented on how good it tasted, and lucky me they offered me another one because they were trying to get rid of them!
I managed to study about seven hours without a break and without falling asleep! I was racing against time right throughout the day to ensure I covered the whole topic, but even after seven years I still nearly ran out of time! I had half an hour to go and decided I better eat because I was HUUUUNNGRY! I managed to meet up with Alice and Lun Shen in the Info Commons before having to go off to my test in the Lower Lecture Theatre.
The test was...sorta OK. Once again it was all multi-choice. There were some questions I knew and some I didn't. I'll have to wait till I get my results to see if I was fully prepared or not.
I was waiting at the bus stop outside Sky City later that night, sitting in between this homeless guy and some Asian girl. After running all the way from uni to the bus stop, I realised the bus wouldn't be coming for another 15 minutes! Anyway I was sitting there, checking out the Asian girl..haha nah just joking I was staring at the other side of the road, when the homeless guy started talking to me:
"Did you hear about the low-flying spaceships this morning?"
Thinking he was talking about the NZ Airforce training thing involving low-flying that was mentioned in the NZ Herald, I just nodded and agreed. I asked him if he was talking about helicopters, but he was adament
"Nah nah bro they're spaceships! They're five miles long, hidden in the clouds. Straight up bro straight up!"
I asked him if they were there right at that time. He told me:
"Yeeah bro they're hiding in the clouds or else it would scare the f*#&k outta everyone!"
He would even walk out from under the shelter to look into the sky to check for spaceships. I wasn't sure if he was having me on or if he really believed what he was saying!
He went on about how there was one big spaceship and all these small crafts. I asked if the big craft was the mother ship but he replied
"Nah bro its the father ship! Representin' mankind! Straight up bro!!"
He went on about those beams that lift people into flying saucers which was starting to get freaky!
Fortunately the bus arrived just in time to pick me up before that guy did anything bad to me!
Sunday 9 September 2007
Mini-Reunion
On Friday night some of us ex-Rutherford students got together at Denny's (is it Denny's or Danny's? This was the first time I went there!) to catch up with each other, especially Heather who had come up from Christchurch on holiday. I caught a ride with Shen who was also taking Shrikkanth, Nick and Jacqueline.
There were quite a few people that turned up! There were a few notable absences, I'm not too sure where they were.
We had this...odd...waitress. When Shen asked if there was a TV in the restaurant so that we could watch the Warriors game, she replied
"I'm the TV!!"
That led to quite a few jokes some of the guys made, such as suggesting she was WIDESCREEN , and that we should check the TELETITS!
Shen, Shrikkanth, David, Nick, Jacqueline and I sat at one table while at another table were a few other people, so many I can't remember their names!
I was about to order the Fish and Chips dish, as it was the cheapest, but after hearing David order the Honey Chicken and checking it out, I decided to make a last minute switch! Well it definitely tasted different!
We spent most of the night talking and joking, and we then paid our bills one by one. After everyone paid their bills there was a bit of a problem, with one meal still not having been paid. There was a bit of commotion and discussion between some of the guys and the Denny's/Danny's people before they agreed to let it go.
A few of us were talking outside afterwards, discussing who was going into the city for clubbing (not me though, I had to teach the next morning! Yep I'm yet to lose my clubbing virginity!) when a couple of guys frantically dashed down the road very suspiciously! We didn't really take too much notice of it.
When we walked back to Shen's car though, we walked past these guys sitting outside McDonald's who were eyeing us. That was pretty freaky. Even Shen told Nick to watch his back, which must've meant he noticed something! As Shen drove us away from the carpark, we saw a police car pull in and some other guys running away, so something must've been going on!
Anyway it was good to catch up with a few of the old Rutherford guys and girls! It's pretty cool that we still get together once in a while!
There were quite a few people that turned up! There were a few notable absences, I'm not too sure where they were.
We had this...odd...waitress. When Shen asked if there was a TV in the restaurant so that we could watch the Warriors game, she replied
"I'm the TV!!"
That led to quite a few jokes some of the guys made, such as suggesting she was WIDESCREEN , and that we should check the TELETITS!
Shen, Shrikkanth, David, Nick, Jacqueline and I sat at one table while at another table were a few other people, so many I can't remember their names!
I was about to order the Fish and Chips dish, as it was the cheapest, but after hearing David order the Honey Chicken and checking it out, I decided to make a last minute switch! Well it definitely tasted different!
We spent most of the night talking and joking, and we then paid our bills one by one. After everyone paid their bills there was a bit of a problem, with one meal still not having been paid. There was a bit of commotion and discussion between some of the guys and the Denny's/Danny's people before they agreed to let it go.
A few of us were talking outside afterwards, discussing who was going into the city for clubbing (not me though, I had to teach the next morning! Yep I'm yet to lose my clubbing virginity!) when a couple of guys frantically dashed down the road very suspiciously! We didn't really take too much notice of it.
When we walked back to Shen's car though, we walked past these guys sitting outside McDonald's who were eyeing us. That was pretty freaky. Even Shen told Nick to watch his back, which must've meant he noticed something! As Shen drove us away from the carpark, we saw a police car pull in and some other guys running away, so something must've been going on!
Anyway it was good to catch up with a few of the old Rutherford guys and girls! It's pretty cool that we still get together once in a while!
Thursday 6 September 2007
The Amazing Race - Dessert Club Style
I'm achieving milestones during uni holidays. This time round I've participated in the most number of uni club activities than before! - The Kiwi Asian Club ball, and just yesterday The Dessert Club's Amazing Race! I did tell my mum though that I was going into the city to photocopy some music in the uni music library, which technically was true, and I did not lie, I did that in the end! I just didn't tell her about other part...
I got into the city at about 10.30am, earlier than my team members! Oh yeah..my team members were Alice and (originally Elena, hence the team name Team ACE) Lucy, who filled in for Elena. You can probably guess where Lucy's from. Yes you're right Mt Roskill Grammar! I was originally going to buy some breakfast from McDonald's or Burger King, but by the time I got there they started flipping the menus around and so I couldn't be bothered.
Just as well too! When I finally caught up with Alice and Lucy outside the uni recreation centre where the starting line was, there was a table covered with bowls of ice-cream! As soon as the guy said go, we all rushed to the table, grabbed a bowl and started eating! I was a little worried about meningitis (well what do you expect? I'm a health science student afterall!!) and so they gave us a couple of extra bowls to split the ice-cream into, and it ended up working to our advantage, even though the girls ended up dumping most of the ice-cream on me! We finished 2nd, and our next clue was to visit all four sponsors of the Dessert Club to collect a token from each. We didn't know who the sponsors were though so we quickly went to the Info Commons to check it out on the computer.
Once we found out where to go, we rushed straight for Dunkin' Donuts. As soon as we got there I presented the token and was asked to pick a doughnut and a drink. I initially thought I had to purchase it myself so I just picked any random doughnut. It turned out that the Dessert Club would be paying for it, and we had to eat the doughnut and drink the drink before we could move on! The girls split the doughnut and ate that (complaining to me about my choice of doughnut!) while I had to try scull this hot chocolate!
We then rushed to Yogoberries (or some shop with a name like that) to collect our next token...no challenge there. Next was IS2, this shaved ice shop, where Sarena works! Well she wasn't working at the time. Our task this time was to make two bowls of shaved ice, and then try sell them for $2 each to someone in the Atrium on Elliot foodcourt. There was a bit of drama in that my schoolbag zip broke...OK that's not really drama..I ended up fixing it! It took us a little while trying to find someone to sell the ice-cream to, but we soon managed to sell one bowl to this Asian guy and his girlfriend after I got on my knees and begged while Lucy and Alice used their good looks and convincing manner! The second bowl we really didn't have to do much to find someone, as one lady who initially rejected us the first time round came over to look for us and buy it off us! We had to eat the last bowl of shaved ice we had to make ourselves, and so I got in and scooped some onto my hands and got licking. As soon as we were done we had to run all the way back to uni for the checkpoint. We
Our next clue was to find a token that was located somewhere around the Info Commons, Science faculty or recreation centre. We decided to split up. It took us at least ten minutes, and by then all these other teams were on the search as well. After retracing my steps, I spotted a big piece of paper in the bush. When I took a closer look, it was an envelope with tokens! I grabbed one and then continued searching to try throw the other teams off track before taking it to my team.
The next task was to go to the Grafton campus, so we took a casual stroll all the way there (we probably should've walked a little faster!) When we got there we were team six, and presented with the challenge to eat a bowl of food ranging from durian paste, wasabi peas, this spicy tofu and some other stuff that tasted funky. I was made to eat the spicy tofu and filled my mouth with some wasabi peas. They also gave me quite a bit of durian paste. When I finished my share, they gave me even more! I couldn't imagine eating anymore, so I grabbed a serviette, put the paste in there and hid it in my pocket! As soon as we had finished, we got our next clue - go to the Auckland Museum.
We crossed the road and decided to try take a shortcut across the domain, which was pretty soggy due to the bad weather. When we finally got inside, we were asked to pick a chocolate bar. Lucy was about to choose the Moro Gold bar before deciding to go with the Milo bar. Thank goodness she did! The Milo bar was in the mid-range in terms of the calories we had, and so we had to choose to either do 300 push-ups amongst the three of us, or do three laps around the museum. We decided to do the three laps! Each time we jogged past the main entrance of the museum all these school kids cheered for us!! We finally finished, and by then we were tied for 6th/7th. Our next task was to go all the way to the Britomart Train Station. Fortunately there was a Link bus just as we got to the bus stop.
As soon as we got to Britomart we had to look for two Dessert Club executives, which meant going up to random people and asking them! We split up again and I ended up wandering all the way to the end of the train platform and finding no one! Lucy and Alice managed to find one executive each and as we walked out the station we asked some people just to try trick the other teams before jumping on the free bus to the finish line. Each traffic light the bus approached seemed to turn red though!
We finally got to the uni campus and sprinted to the function room to find we finished....FIFTH (out of sixteen teams) which wasn't too bad! We finished the race at 1:50 something pm, while the first team (Roskill Asians despite only one guy being Asian!!!) finished at 1:15pm. We all relaxed and ate heaps of food while waiting for the other teams to finish, which took over an hour! To finish off the day there was a game of musical chairs, in which I was the first to get kicked off! (A bit preoccupied with taking photos!)
Hamish needed to go into the city to return a library book and so he was pushing me to come home, so I thought I better go to the music library to photocopy my music before leaving for home.
I got into the city at about 10.30am, earlier than my team members! Oh yeah..my team members were Alice and (originally Elena, hence the team name Team ACE) Lucy, who filled in for Elena. You can probably guess where Lucy's from. Yes you're right Mt Roskill Grammar! I was originally going to buy some breakfast from McDonald's or Burger King, but by the time I got there they started flipping the menus around and so I couldn't be bothered.
Just as well too! When I finally caught up with Alice and Lucy outside the uni recreation centre where the starting line was, there was a table covered with bowls of ice-cream! As soon as the guy said go, we all rushed to the table, grabbed a bowl and started eating! I was a little worried about meningitis (well what do you expect? I'm a health science student afterall!!) and so they gave us a couple of extra bowls to split the ice-cream into, and it ended up working to our advantage, even though the girls ended up dumping most of the ice-cream on me! We finished 2nd, and our next clue was to visit all four sponsors of the Dessert Club to collect a token from each. We didn't know who the sponsors were though so we quickly went to the Info Commons to check it out on the computer.
Once we found out where to go, we rushed straight for Dunkin' Donuts. As soon as we got there I presented the token and was asked to pick a doughnut and a drink. I initially thought I had to purchase it myself so I just picked any random doughnut. It turned out that the Dessert Club would be paying for it, and we had to eat the doughnut and drink the drink before we could move on! The girls split the doughnut and ate that (complaining to me about my choice of doughnut!) while I had to try scull this hot chocolate!
We then rushed to Yogoberries (or some shop with a name like that) to collect our next token...no challenge there. Next was IS2, this shaved ice shop, where Sarena works! Well she wasn't working at the time. Our task this time was to make two bowls of shaved ice, and then try sell them for $2 each to someone in the Atrium on Elliot foodcourt. There was a bit of drama in that my schoolbag zip broke...OK that's not really drama..I ended up fixing it! It took us a little while trying to find someone to sell the ice-cream to, but we soon managed to sell one bowl to this Asian guy and his girlfriend after I got on my knees and begged while Lucy and Alice used their good looks and convincing manner! The second bowl we really didn't have to do much to find someone, as one lady who initially rejected us the first time round came over to look for us and buy it off us! We had to eat the last bowl of shaved ice we had to make ourselves, and so I got in and scooped some onto my hands and got licking. As soon as we were done we had to run all the way back to uni for the checkpoint. We
Our next clue was to find a token that was located somewhere around the Info Commons, Science faculty or recreation centre. We decided to split up. It took us at least ten minutes, and by then all these other teams were on the search as well. After retracing my steps, I spotted a big piece of paper in the bush. When I took a closer look, it was an envelope with tokens! I grabbed one and then continued searching to try throw the other teams off track before taking it to my team.
The next task was to go to the Grafton campus, so we took a casual stroll all the way there (we probably should've walked a little faster!) When we got there we were team six, and presented with the challenge to eat a bowl of food ranging from durian paste, wasabi peas, this spicy tofu and some other stuff that tasted funky. I was made to eat the spicy tofu and filled my mouth with some wasabi peas. They also gave me quite a bit of durian paste. When I finished my share, they gave me even more! I couldn't imagine eating anymore, so I grabbed a serviette, put the paste in there and hid it in my pocket! As soon as we had finished, we got our next clue - go to the Auckland Museum.
We crossed the road and decided to try take a shortcut across the domain, which was pretty soggy due to the bad weather. When we finally got inside, we were asked to pick a chocolate bar. Lucy was about to choose the Moro Gold bar before deciding to go with the Milo bar. Thank goodness she did! The Milo bar was in the mid-range in terms of the calories we had, and so we had to choose to either do 300 push-ups amongst the three of us, or do three laps around the museum. We decided to do the three laps! Each time we jogged past the main entrance of the museum all these school kids cheered for us!! We finally finished, and by then we were tied for 6th/7th. Our next task was to go all the way to the Britomart Train Station. Fortunately there was a Link bus just as we got to the bus stop.
As soon as we got to Britomart we had to look for two Dessert Club executives, which meant going up to random people and asking them! We split up again and I ended up wandering all the way to the end of the train platform and finding no one! Lucy and Alice managed to find one executive each and as we walked out the station we asked some people just to try trick the other teams before jumping on the free bus to the finish line. Each traffic light the bus approached seemed to turn red though!
We finally got to the uni campus and sprinted to the function room to find we finished....FIFTH (out of sixteen teams) which wasn't too bad! We finished the race at 1:50 something pm, while the first team (Roskill Asians despite only one guy being Asian!!!) finished at 1:15pm. We all relaxed and ate heaps of food while waiting for the other teams to finish, which took over an hour! To finish off the day there was a game of musical chairs, in which I was the first to get kicked off! (A bit preoccupied with taking photos!)
Hamish needed to go into the city to return a library book and so he was pushing me to come home, so I thought I better go to the music library to photocopy my music before leaving for home.
Monday 3 September 2007
Happy Father's Day!!
Happy Father's Day to all you fathers and everyone else out there! So it's a day just for fathers, but it doesn't mean the rest of us can't enjoy it! We had an extra long church service where three churches combined at ours for a baptism service. We were late and so we sat outside watching the proceedings. I was sitting next to Angie's mum so it was vital I stayed awake and look like a model Christian! (or...try to!!) I was too wound up in thought to fall asleep which was good! It must've looked very convincing because Angie's mum asked me if I could understand the Chinese!
All the dads were given a present. Because my dad was at work he didn't get one. It turned out that the presents were lunch boxes! You never know what you're going to get at our church!
After the service we had this shared lunch and so we were sitting around in circles in the main room. Most of the food turned out to be various types of biscuits and crackers though so I guess you could say we had a cracker of a lunch! (Yes yes lame pun!)
--
Upon wishing a few random friends Happy Father's Day, here are some of the interesting responses I got:
"B@s+ard! Im not a father!"
"..Im not a father if you havent realised by now"
"Ya grampa u 2"
"Oh right fathers day lol"
"Bt im nt a father"
Thanks guys for your best wishes too!!
--
On Saturday morning during my first class with my third year students, one of the girls asked me if I had a girlfriend and I said no, and this is how she explains it:
"Oh it's probably because you wear glasses"
And when I took them off, she told me I looked better in them!! Next thing I know when the supervisor's daughter who was filling in for her that day came into my room to ask if I needed any photocopying, I had one of the girls whispering
"Oooooooooooo you like her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
All the dads were given a present. Because my dad was at work he didn't get one. It turned out that the presents were lunch boxes! You never know what you're going to get at our church!
After the service we had this shared lunch and so we were sitting around in circles in the main room. Most of the food turned out to be various types of biscuits and crackers though so I guess you could say we had a cracker of a lunch! (Yes yes lame pun!)
--
Upon wishing a few random friends Happy Father's Day, here are some of the interesting responses I got:
"B@s+ard! Im not a father!"
"..Im not a father if you havent realised by now"
"Ya grampa u 2"
"Oh right fathers day lol"
"Bt im nt a father"
Thanks guys for your best wishes too!!
--
On Saturday morning during my first class with my third year students, one of the girls asked me if I had a girlfriend and I said no, and this is how she explains it:
"Oh it's probably because you wear glasses"
And when I took them off, she told me I looked better in them!! Next thing I know when the supervisor's daughter who was filling in for her that day came into my room to ask if I needed any photocopying, I had one of the girls whispering
"Oooooooooooo you like her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Kiwi Asian Club Ball
Yesterday was the Kiwi Asian Club ball, and once again I was really really dreading going and regretting buying the ball ticket as I really didn't know anyone there. At the last Kiwi Asian Club event I went to I mainly talked to Aneesya but she wasn't going to the ball, so I was afraid I was going to be a loner! Earlier in the day as well Diane had just told me she wouldn't have time to meet up with me during the holidays and so I was a little sad about that too. My mum though wasn't going to let me waste $65 on the ball ticket and was adamant I was going to that ball, although she thought it would be one of those boozed up parties!
So it was about 6pm and the doors would close at 7.15pm and I hadn't even had a shower or prepared anything! I quickly jumped in the shower and got out at 6.30pm. I grabbed one of my dad's suits, the Mickey Mouse tie I've always wanted to wear, and then sifted through my folder to look for the ball ticket when I realised I COULDN'T FIND MY BALL TICKET!!! I practically trashed the house in search of the ball ticket before trying to text Kat or Melissa, two KAC members who are further up in the pecking order and know people in high places! They told me that I just had to bring photo I.D. so I jumped in the car and got going!
Originally I was going to try dress up to the theme of 'A Knight's Tale' but I started to have second thoughts when I realised I didn't want to have to carry around props and accessories throughout the night or else leave it somewhere for it to be stolen. That's when it hit me...what if I went disposable and made my props with something I could easily throw away...such as balloons! Because I was in such a rush, I got Aonghas to follow some DIY videos on YouTube and try make me a balloon crown and sword. He didn't do too badly going by the numerous compliments I got! :D
As we approached the city I started to have doubts as to where the ball was held, but fortunately Kat texted me just in time to let me know it was at the Stamford Plaza Hotel. There at the entrance was Kat with some other girl who checked my photo ID and then let me in. I was shown to my table where it was just me and these two girls sitting opposite. I thought I better try get to know some people so I don't look as though I'm unfriendly! One of the girls was called something like Breville???? I remember the other girl's name though. Excuse the spelling, but she was called Yi!! How I remember that was I just thought of her name as 'one' in Chinese! When we were later lining up for dinner and she was standing behind me, she asked me if I recognised her and still remembered her name, and thank goodness I did! I nearly didn't though as all the girls in their dresses and their hair tied back looked pretty similar!
Another person who was sitting at our table was David Jiang and his partner! The same David Jiang from Rangeview!! It's amazing who you catch up with! He still managed to recognise me and remember my name! Actually I was amazed at how quite a few of the KAC members remembered me from the last event! On either side of me was this guy Leo who I got to know over the night, and Matt, Melissa's boyfriend who I also got to know over the night as well. Sarena, Kat, Melissa and occasionally Sarena's cousin Allen.
The ball was run in a different way to the usual school ball where there'd just be dancing, dinner, dessert, awards and then more dancing till midnight. During this ball there was a little three part movie based on the ball theme and featuring the KAC executives that was shown throughout the night. The night started off (this may not be in the correct order!) with a hip-hop dance by some members. Prizes and acknowledgements were then made by the club president Suzy (I got this girl I met...I think Bettrina or something like that mixed up with her!). Congratulations to Sarena who got best dressed!! Then it was finally dinner time! Matthew showed me the meat that I should try filling myself up with to recoup the $65 I spent on the ball tickets. I only managed two plates before dessert was already served! Dessert was really nice!
After dessert there was a little skit based on Japanese video games, that featured our very own Sarena! She was battling Sean (the Sean from Rutherford!) and she hit her head against the ground, making a really loud THUMP, but amazing got back up and carried on! A band performed shortly after, which involved a microphone dying and the technician guy knocking over a bottle and smashing it in the middle of a performance. They performed a Paramore song, which surprised me, because it's Kar-Mun's favourite band and I didn't even know they were that well-known!
By 10pm it was finally time to dance! It started off with the fast techno-dance sorta music, my sort of music! We eventually formed a circle where we randomly got shoved into the middle and got made to do a little solo dance. Later into the night the music started turning into more hip-hop RnB style music, which wasn't so bad, as well as the classic songs which we all jumped up and down and sang to.
When it was all over we were all hanging around and people were spraying that crazy-stringy stuff around and I got some sprayed in my hair!
Overall it was a pretty cool night. I got to know quite a few new people and was amazed at how some people who I hadn't really known too well still remembered me. The friendliness of the members of the club has really encouraged me to try get more involved in the club and participate more in activities when possible! Hopefully I might some great friends there!
So it was about 6pm and the doors would close at 7.15pm and I hadn't even had a shower or prepared anything! I quickly jumped in the shower and got out at 6.30pm. I grabbed one of my dad's suits, the Mickey Mouse tie I've always wanted to wear, and then sifted through my folder to look for the ball ticket when I realised I COULDN'T FIND MY BALL TICKET!!! I practically trashed the house in search of the ball ticket before trying to text Kat or Melissa, two KAC members who are further up in the pecking order and know people in high places! They told me that I just had to bring photo I.D. so I jumped in the car and got going!
Originally I was going to try dress up to the theme of 'A Knight's Tale' but I started to have second thoughts when I realised I didn't want to have to carry around props and accessories throughout the night or else leave it somewhere for it to be stolen. That's when it hit me...what if I went disposable and made my props with something I could easily throw away...such as balloons! Because I was in such a rush, I got Aonghas to follow some DIY videos on YouTube and try make me a balloon crown and sword. He didn't do too badly going by the numerous compliments I got! :D
As we approached the city I started to have doubts as to where the ball was held, but fortunately Kat texted me just in time to let me know it was at the Stamford Plaza Hotel. There at the entrance was Kat with some other girl who checked my photo ID and then let me in. I was shown to my table where it was just me and these two girls sitting opposite. I thought I better try get to know some people so I don't look as though I'm unfriendly! One of the girls was called something like Breville???? I remember the other girl's name though. Excuse the spelling, but she was called Yi!! How I remember that was I just thought of her name as 'one' in Chinese! When we were later lining up for dinner and she was standing behind me, she asked me if I recognised her and still remembered her name, and thank goodness I did! I nearly didn't though as all the girls in their dresses and their hair tied back looked pretty similar!
Another person who was sitting at our table was David Jiang and his partner! The same David Jiang from Rangeview!! It's amazing who you catch up with! He still managed to recognise me and remember my name! Actually I was amazed at how quite a few of the KAC members remembered me from the last event! On either side of me was this guy Leo who I got to know over the night, and Matt, Melissa's boyfriend who I also got to know over the night as well. Sarena, Kat, Melissa and occasionally Sarena's cousin Allen.
The ball was run in a different way to the usual school ball where there'd just be dancing, dinner, dessert, awards and then more dancing till midnight. During this ball there was a little three part movie based on the ball theme and featuring the KAC executives that was shown throughout the night. The night started off (this may not be in the correct order!) with a hip-hop dance by some members. Prizes and acknowledgements were then made by the club president Suzy (I got this girl I met...I think Bettrina or something like that mixed up with her!). Congratulations to Sarena who got best dressed!! Then it was finally dinner time! Matthew showed me the meat that I should try filling myself up with to recoup the $65 I spent on the ball tickets. I only managed two plates before dessert was already served! Dessert was really nice!
After dessert there was a little skit based on Japanese video games, that featured our very own Sarena! She was battling Sean (the Sean from Rutherford!) and she hit her head against the ground, making a really loud THUMP, but amazing got back up and carried on! A band performed shortly after, which involved a microphone dying and the technician guy knocking over a bottle and smashing it in the middle of a performance. They performed a Paramore song, which surprised me, because it's Kar-Mun's favourite band and I didn't even know they were that well-known!
By 10pm it was finally time to dance! It started off with the fast techno-dance sorta music, my sort of music! We eventually formed a circle where we randomly got shoved into the middle and got made to do a little solo dance. Later into the night the music started turning into more hip-hop RnB style music, which wasn't so bad, as well as the classic songs which we all jumped up and down and sang to.
When it was all over we were all hanging around and people were spraying that crazy-stringy stuff around and I got some sprayed in my hair!
Overall it was a pretty cool night. I got to know quite a few new people and was amazed at how some people who I hadn't really known too well still remembered me. The friendliness of the members of the club has really encouraged me to try get more involved in the club and participate more in activities when possible! Hopefully I might some great friends there!
Saturday 1 September 2007
A Meaning to my Dream
I seem to have been having a reoccurring theme to some of my dreams this year - witnessing plane crashes. It's really disturbing, not just because it is a really weird dream, but because I know of at least two people who will be catching planes in the near future - Diane when she goes back to Palmerston North, and Aonghas when he goes down to Christchurch for his video course.
Here's a bit of a rundown of how a few of my 'plane crash' dreams have played out:
- One of them is during a sunset where one of those older and smaller planes (actually I think it's a NZ Post plane) is flying low and then for some reason it veers towards the horizon. Next thing you know, behind the trees and houses is a big explosion!
- My most recent one which happened last night was when my family and I were in Japan on a trip and we must've been walking along the waterfront/viaduct of some place when this passenger jet came heading towards us before plunging in the water (if you want to know I think it happened to be ANA - All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airline!)
There have been a few more, and after the last one the night before, I thought it was about time I found out if these dreams meant anything to me, so I did a little search on the Internet. There were a few comments such as
'Don't get on a plane anytime soon!!!'
But I think I might just disregard those ones...or maybe I shouldn't...
Anyway the interpretations that really caught my attention were:
'The message of "plane crash" dreams always is the same. It's time to rescue your self from feelings of being in a "free fall" by taking concrete steps to reassert your goals and values.'
'But if you were to take the psychoanalytical approach to this, they would say that your unconscious is telling you that you feel out of control, that you have no control over your fate. In fact all you can do is just stand by and watch your future crashing down. When you were watching the planes crash it was as if you saw disaster and you couldn't help it, or the fact that someone you know was destroying their lives and you saw it but knew there was nothing you could do about it.'
Here's a bit of a rundown of how a few of my 'plane crash' dreams have played out:
- One of them is during a sunset where one of those older and smaller planes (actually I think it's a NZ Post plane) is flying low and then for some reason it veers towards the horizon. Next thing you know, behind the trees and houses is a big explosion!
- My most recent one which happened last night was when my family and I were in Japan on a trip and we must've been walking along the waterfront/viaduct of some place when this passenger jet came heading towards us before plunging in the water (if you want to know I think it happened to be ANA - All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airline!)
There have been a few more, and after the last one the night before, I thought it was about time I found out if these dreams meant anything to me, so I did a little search on the Internet. There were a few comments such as
'Don't get on a plane anytime soon!!!'
But I think I might just disregard those ones...or maybe I shouldn't...
Anyway the interpretations that really caught my attention were:
'The message of "plane crash" dreams always is the same. It's time to rescue your self from feelings of being in a "free fall" by taking concrete steps to reassert your goals and values.'
'But if you were to take the psychoanalytical approach to this, they would say that your unconscious is telling you that you feel out of control, that you have no control over your fate. In fact all you can do is just stand by and watch your future crashing down. When you were watching the planes crash it was as if you saw disaster and you couldn't help it, or the fact that someone you know was destroying their lives and you saw it but knew there was nothing you could do about it.'
'To dream that a plane crashes, suggests that you have set overly high and unrealistic goals for yourself. Your goals may be too high and are impossible to realize. You are in danger of having it come crashing down. Alternatively, your lack of confidence, self-defeating attitude and self-doubt toward the goals you have set for yourself is represented by the crashing airplane; you do not believe in your ability to attain those goals. Loss of power and uncertainty in achieving your goals are also signified'
That does sorta apply to me! Maybe it's a sign for me to sort my life out and get a hold of things! That's it I'm going to plan my future! Maybe I'll do that in the near future...Studio Show
Last night was the last studio show performance for the lot and also for the year. I'm sure it would've been quite emotional for some of the year 13's as it would be their last ever at Rutherford. I remember my supposedly last Studio Show last year, and then ended up performing at another one! Aonghas didn't have a solo prepared and so he asked if I could come along and perform a duet with him, and I was allowed to.
At first it was a bit weird because I didn't think anyone knew me, but on Thursday and Friday night 'back stage' in the music room, a few of the Bring It On dancers came over and started talking to us and recognised me from last year which was cool even though some kept calling me Aonghas!
Last night was probably the most important night of the three for us. Aonghas's group of friends came, so too did Chen and our mum (unexpectedly!), and Mr Moore the principal! In addition to this, Aonghas and I came during the half-time break for the first two performances, but because we wanted to record the final performance we had to arrive earlier. Aonghas and Chen were at this school radio show thing until 6.45pm, and the show started at 7.30pm, so as soon as they got home we had to rush straight to school so Aonghas could set the camera and everything else up! Fortunately our performance went according to plan though so that's good!
There were some incidents at the Studio Show over the past three days:
-On Wednesday night Janet (really good singer!!) left her Ipod in one of the rooms...or somewhere..and it got stolen. It had all her photos and over 3000 songs on it, none of which she had backed up on a computer!!
-On Thursday night backstage as we were about to go onto the stage for the bows I took out my cellphone to read a txt I just got, and I got told off by one of the new teachers I didn't know for having my phone on because it was interfering with their walkie-talkie system...yeah naughty me! In all my years doing Studio Shows I never got told that, but apparently according to Aonghas they made a big deal about it! So maybe I just didn't pay enough attention...
-Last night Janet was just about to perform when one of the guys who was playing with her guitar broke one of her strings and it upset her quiet a bit! Fortunately though they replaced it with one of the strings from a school guitar (ssssssshhh!!!) and Janet went on to perform REALLY well as usual!
Aonghas and I didn't get any performance awards but we weren't really expecting to anyway seeing as Aonghas already won something in the earlier Studio Show, but we rushed back to the music room as soon as our bows were over to prepare to film the Rutherford tradition of the 'ziggy' when we heard them doing it from a distance - they were doing it in the dance room without us!!
All's well though. Even though I was a bit hesitant to return at first, I'm glad I did. It was pretty fun and cool to catch up with some old faces and get to know some new ones.
At first it was a bit weird because I didn't think anyone knew me, but on Thursday and Friday night 'back stage' in the music room, a few of the Bring It On dancers came over and started talking to us and recognised me from last year which was cool even though some kept calling me Aonghas!
Last night was probably the most important night of the three for us. Aonghas's group of friends came, so too did Chen and our mum (unexpectedly!), and Mr Moore the principal! In addition to this, Aonghas and I came during the half-time break for the first two performances, but because we wanted to record the final performance we had to arrive earlier. Aonghas and Chen were at this school radio show thing until 6.45pm, and the show started at 7.30pm, so as soon as they got home we had to rush straight to school so Aonghas could set the camera and everything else up! Fortunately our performance went according to plan though so that's good!
There were some incidents at the Studio Show over the past three days:
-On Wednesday night Janet (really good singer!!) left her Ipod in one of the rooms...or somewhere..and it got stolen. It had all her photos and over 3000 songs on it, none of which she had backed up on a computer!!
-On Thursday night backstage as we were about to go onto the stage for the bows I took out my cellphone to read a txt I just got, and I got told off by one of the new teachers I didn't know for having my phone on because it was interfering with their walkie-talkie system...yeah naughty me! In all my years doing Studio Shows I never got told that, but apparently according to Aonghas they made a big deal about it! So maybe I just didn't pay enough attention...
-Last night Janet was just about to perform when one of the guys who was playing with her guitar broke one of her strings and it upset her quiet a bit! Fortunately though they replaced it with one of the strings from a school guitar (ssssssshhh!!!) and Janet went on to perform REALLY well as usual!
Aonghas and I didn't get any performance awards but we weren't really expecting to anyway seeing as Aonghas already won something in the earlier Studio Show, but we rushed back to the music room as soon as our bows were over to prepare to film the Rutherford tradition of the 'ziggy' when we heard them doing it from a distance - they were doing it in the dance room without us!!
All's well though. Even though I was a bit hesitant to return at first, I'm glad I did. It was pretty fun and cool to catch up with some old faces and get to know some new ones.
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